S&P: Biden coronavirus relief proposal would restore economy by summer https://t.co/4i5FNIQjNm pic.twitter.com/aLDP4sBFHZ
— The Hill (@thehill) February 2, 2021
… “We find that if the $1.9 trillion package were put into law, the U.S. economy would reach pre-crisis levels in the second quarter of 2021, with a stronger demand-driven path of growth through 2023,” the report said.
Biden’s proposal would also set the economy on course to exceed its pre-pandemic growth path until the end of 2022, when it would start to slow, S&P said.
On the jobs front, S&P said the injection of government funds would likely push unemployment down below 4 percent by mid-2023, a year earlier than its current forecast. The nationwide unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent in December, the most recent figures available from the Labor Department…
Question: is President Biden's Covid aid number still $1.9T?@PressSec: "It is."
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 2, 2021
well i mean they could pass it *with* republican support. republicans are free to vote for it if they wish. https://t.co/JVV7HroH2W
— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 2, 2021
<deadpan>Gee, I’m shocked, I never saw that happening</deadpan>
Name a big vote where Manchin was a deciding vote vs Dems. I’m pretty sure you can’t.
Schumer’s been acting supremely confident about this from the moment we won the GA seats. He’s known for a while he had Manchin https://t.co/LlGaK5iOGF
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 2, 2021
In COVID politics, doing something always > doing nothing. Plus, my broken-record reminder that there is no constituency for fiscal conservatism, and that includes among conservatives. => https://t.co/xAj0UEpwsJ
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) February 2, 2021
pass an incredibly popular covid relief package and then make every republican vote against it. run on it during the midterms. if you lose, you were gonna lose the house anyway. you got people relief. if you win, you win, and people got money and, you know, you won. twice.
— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 3, 2021
O. Felix Culpa
Frist! That is all.
mvr
This is good news. I gather there are still ways the bill could be modified and I’m somewhat pessimistic about the $15 minimum wage making it through to the final bill. But this is what we voted for.
Joey Maloney
Watching the GOP ramp up their gerrymandering and voter suppression, I think it’s essential that we pass H.R. 1/S. 1 this session. As in, we might never get another chance to hold both houses if we don’t. It’s gotta be Job #2 after COVID relief. Or maaaaybe #3 after an infrastructure bill.
sdhays
He won’t do it, but the Biden Treasury Department should sign the $1400 checks “Courtesy, The Democratic Party”.
It would be more accurate than Donny Dollhands putting his ugly signature on the previous checks.
Suzanne
Damn straight. Turn the money faucet on.
waspuppet
That’s exactly why Republicans don’t support it.
Dupe1970
@Suzanne: Money machine go brrrrrrr
Geminid
@waspuppet: Republicans tried to hamstring Barack Obama’s presidency through austerity. This political strategy was more or less sucessful, even though it fell short of it’s goal of making Obama a one-term President. So their strategy this time round is familiar and obvious.
taumaturgo
Credit when credit is due. It looks that the Democrats after years and years of surrendering before the fight are finally standing up and not caving to Republicans and their crocodile tears. They have so far demonstrated that the mistakes of 2008 are not be repeated. If this emergency relief bill is approved without watering it down, the Democrats would have done an immeasurable amount of good for the suffering working folks, both red and blue. How’s that for bipartisanship?
narya
As Charlie Pierce likes to say, as his blog’s first rule of economics: “Fk the deficit. People got no jobs; people got no money.” I am more than a little heartened that at least some lessons appear to have been learned. I know there is still a monumental amount of crazy out there, but actually fixing things will help people.
BruceFromOhio
It’s been an education watching how the various players have engaged this thing. It’s been rewarding how Democrats have not only the moral higher ground, they also have plenty of political cover (high favorability in polling, mayors and governors of all stripes going on record in favor) and have been moving in unison in both houses.
The only players still stuck in second gear are the major media outlets and the GQP. Everyone else gets it.
schrodingers_cat
Keynes is back! Good!
mrmoshpotato
@BruceFromOhio:
Neither of these groups want to get it, because one loves reporting on “both sides,” and the other is a group of selfish “FY!IGM.” assholes.
Jeffro
@Geminid: this, exactly.
Do they even have any other plays in their playbook?
Do they ever offer anything to voters besides tax cuts for the well-off and heavy doses of white supremacy?
japa21
@mrmoshpotato:
I believe both fall into the latter category.
taumaturgo
I’m hoping the two-step stick and carrots used by Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi for the Covid emergency relief package will be recycled in future fights. Joe will use the carrot by humoring the GOP, meeting with them, listening to their opposition, and being sympathetic while Schumer and Pelosi use the stick and oppose any attempts to water down legislation and continue to ferociously promote the Democrat’s legislative priorities which eventually Biden will sign into law.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So basically Trump had won and the GOP held the senate, they would have let the economy tank, for FREEDOM!
That’s quite the cunning political strategy Turtle and McCarthy have. What do they call it “Fuck it bro, this governance shit is hard”?
Jeffro
Second gear is generous. =)
Major win coming up here, Dems – nice work! Leave the Repqblicans to squawk and fight amongst themselves, and just keep. pounding.
Jeffro
Yes, that’s correct. It’s not like they were ever going to come around to the idea that government should actually help people, because that usually requires a) spending money, which requires taxes of some sort, and b) work, which they clearly weren’t going to do.
MattF
Twitter sez a Senate organizing resolution has been agreed on.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Joey Maloney: Maybe, the GOP is hemorrhaging voters and the Trumprotaliat only show up to vote when Dear Leader’s name in on the ballet. The GOP would be smarter to pass laws temporally changing every Republican candidates name to “Donald Trump” for the election and issuing them blond wings and oversized red ties.
Soprano2
I think if Trump had won I think they would have raced to pass something “for the American people”, and you’d have heard nary a word about debt or deficits. I think it would have had lots of tax cuts for their wealthier patrons, with a couple of bones thrown to regular people, but they would have done something.
I saw a tweet today saying that vaccine distribution has increased by 1/3 since January 20th! I think that’s one thing we can be sure wouldn’t have gotten better if Trump had won. (ETA a few changes).
Gin & Tonic
Imagine, for a moment, that the Biden admin shut down Fox, OANN and Newsmax for spreading malicious disinformation. That’s essentially what happened yesterday in Ukraine, with the Zelensky administration shutting three channels controlled by pro-Russian (and OFAC-sanctioned) oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk.
The US Embassy in Kyiv issued the following statement this morning:
Elections have consequences, even in countries where they didn’t take place.
Miss Bianca
@taumaturgo: Oh, my, if the Democrats continue on this “failure to disappoint me” trend, will you eventually disappear up your own asshole searching for new poutrages? A girl can dream, eh?
Omnes Omnibus
I agree with Dana Houle about Manchin. We need to look at what he does not what he says. What he does is vote with the Dems when the chips are down. Everything else is commentary.
rp
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I disagree. If they’d won they’d happily pass something (albeit not as generous), because in that case they’d get credit for saving the economy. They don’t care about actually helping people; only political power
ETA: The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Soprano2: When have has Trump and the GOP raced to do anything? The House had their bill passed March of 2020 and GOP dithered. I know Trump wanted a $2K check to everyone, but I think that was because Trump was going to gaslight his supporters into donating that money to him.
Mallard Filmore
@O. Felix Culpa:
Did you come here from Slashdot?
JWR
And then there’s this, which might turn into a headache. (I said might!) I guess recalling governors is just a California sorta thang:
I don’t really see this latest recall succeeding, but they’ve got a lot of big Republican donor $$$ flowing into the state. Also, our local news gives way too much time to resteraunt owners airing their grievances over Newsom’s shifting rules for reopening, so one never knows.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jeffro:
Abortion restrictions, LGBTQ oppression and overt support of right wing Christianist religiousity.
taumaturgo
Potty mouth, I love it!
Barbara
@JWR:I can’t decide whether to give the prize for “own worst enemy” to Newsom or the voters of California. Recalls are just a way of injecting chaos into the state’s governance. Newsom has always been a lightweight, but it’s hard to govern such a diverse, large state. Maybe California voters just have higher standards, but even now, California is no worse than median for case and death rates.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Glenn Greenwald undoubtedly has a 15000 word sad that he is building in his computer as we speak.
Barbara
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Those things are essential to appealing to a firmly committed bloc of voters but they are not sufficient to drum up support among enough voters to win on a statewide level in swing states. However, Republicans are pretty good at identifying state specific themes to expand support — e.g., socialism in Florida.
topclimber
@taumaturgo: Credit where credit is due for saying credit where credit is due. Just be aware I am one of the more easygoing jackals.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JWR:
Kentucky’s GOP supermajority has rewarded Andy Beshear’s steady, empathetic leadership by stripping his emergency powers and overriding his vetoes as it works toward impeachment.
This morning, the Mayberry Machiavellis are expressing the will of their constituents (many of whom have never ventured more than 20 miles of the hollers and pig troughs of their birth) to make sure that Louisville mayoral and council elections are nonpartisan, so as to give Republicans a better chance to govern their cash cow so it can be further stripped of resources and their shitty, so-called “God” can be glorified with taxpayer dollars.
Ken
It’s excellent, though there’s a part of me that wants the Democrats to sneak in a line saying “No funding will go to any state unless at least one Senator from that state voted for this bill, and no funding will go to any congressional district unless the Representative of that district voted for it.”
Then I remember that there are lots of blue votes in those red states and districts, and the feeling goes away. (Though I still think the trick would work, because no Republicans are even going to bother looking at the bill before voting “no”.)
burnspbesq
This is great, but voting rights is still going to be a heavy lift.
dmsilev
Post:
That’s a relief. Took far longer than it should have, but at least now (for one) Merrick Garland can get his damn hearing scheduled.
Ken
I’m hoping Graham shows up for the hearing to an empty room, and when he checks, is told “Oh, didn’t you get the memo? That was moved to the morning slot. We approved him.”
Ohio Mom
Okay, Joe Mancin is in. What about Kysten Sinema? Or am I mixing up votes on tossing the filibuster with the Covid relief bill?
JWR
@Barbara:
Yep. But I’ll tell ya, I get shivers even thinking back to the last recall, which brought us Ahnold. Yeah, he was far better than the odious Pete Wilson, and he did pay more than lip service to the environment, but otherwise, a Republican in all matters fiscal, and I dread another such administration. I’m keeping my fingers crossed against this stupid recall, which I really hope doesn’t gather emough signatures to make it to the ballot.
Ken
@Gin & Tonic: Terrible to speculate what the embassy would have announced in the alternate timeline where Trump won. Would Ukraine have even tried to shut down the Russian-run outlets?
raven
Senate power-sharing agreement reached, Schumer announces, allowing Democrats to take control of committees
Ken
@Ohio Mom: Relief bill passed yesterday with all 50 Democrats and Independents, including Machin and Sinema. The latter two, among others, are still opposed to ending the filibuster, though I think they’ve both qualified it with “as long as the Republicans don’t abuse it”.
Maybe it will end up like some of the Queen’s powers; yes, she can theoretically do certain things, but the second she does, Parliament will strip her of that power.
Barbara
@dmsilev: And poor Lindsay Graham will have fewer means to be a petulant horse’s ass at the expense of the United States. Graham’s decline into a sniveling, ass-kissing caricature has been a revelation to watch.
dmsilev
Maybe I’m a bad person, but I took a certain amount of schadenfreude pleasure reading this:
Trump aides made a late request to Team Biden to extend their parental leave. They said no.
(To be clear: these are political appointees that we’re talking about, whose jobs always always go away on January 20th)
West of the Rockies
@Barbara:
Jerry Brown was just so competent and candid. He’s a hard act to follow.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Here’s what we’re suffering under the “leadership” of the KY Senate President (my former friend and law school classmate), who represents the senate district that has been run by his shitty, corrupt family for several decades. On a per capita basis, Clay County is one of the poorest, least educated and most violent crime-filled counties in a state that is rife with them.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article248951009.html
JWR
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Wow, Kentucky is so screwed. (But Freedumb!) I’m just happy we have a reverse, Dem supermajority, where that sort of thing isn’t likely, at least not for the foreseeable future. You don’t see Democrats pulling that sorta crap.
dmsilev
@Barbara: Graham has show considerable creativity on the petulant whining obstruction front; I’m sure he’ll think of something.
Gin & Tonic
@Ken: Unlikely.
I’m sure it’s just coincidence, but Tony Blinken and Dmytro Kuleba (Ukraine’s MFA) spoke on the phone on Monday. This action was taken late on Tuesday with 17 of 19 members of the National Security Council voting in favor. US Embassy issued a supportive statement Wednesday morning.
YouTube also took down the channel of Alexander Dubinsky, an MP and close Medvedchuk associate.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JWR:
Even better, they’ve now set up a route of justice that includes being able to sue state agencies in any circuit – and THAT will lead to loads of mischief, as most of our rural judges are absolute fuckups who are essentially captured by local lawyers and businesses.
The mediocrity is palpable.
Subsole
Two things:
1. Is there anyway SCOTUS can monkeywrench this like they did Obamacare?
2. Put me down for the republicans doing nothing, even if they won. They are nihilists. The virus kills you? That’s nature pruning off some useless eaters. The economy tanks? Bail out the wealthy, initiate Reaganomics II: Voodoo Harder. The twin shocks of economic collapse and pandemic would finally let them complete their 500 year dream of breaking government’s back. Sell off the country in chunks to cronies foreign and domestic.
The Republicans do not have a country. They have a source of money to pillage. That’s all they see, by and large.
Mike in DC
I wonder if some of the criminal justice reform measures, tied to spending allocations, could be put into a reconciliation bill.
mali muso
@dmsilev: Well, if that makes you a bad person, let’s be bad people together. Cuz I cackled out loud. Make stupid choices, get stupid prizes.
Mike in NC
A small bit of good news: the North Carolina DMV decided that as of January 1st of this year, it would no longer issue “Sons of Confederate Veterans” vanity license plates which feature the Confederate battle flag. They were first issued in 1998 and there are less than 3000 out there. They will have to be turned in when the plates come due for renewal. The snowflakes are threatening to sue the state.
Brachiator
I think that this forecast is too rosy, and am not sure what it is based on. However, economists and the financial markets have responded favorably to Biden’s proposals, and the administration should use this to counter GOP objections.
So, for example, as various news sites have noted:
I think the Biden plan is exactly what is needed, and wish it could be implemented faster, but reports suggest that it might take until mid-March for everything to fall into place.
But I also think that banker Ana Botin nails the most important factor in any hopes of an economic recovery. The US and the world has to get everyone vaccinated.
Because of the pandemic, there are still too many sectors of the economy that are slowed or shut down. And these sectors depend on crowds of people coming into social spaces and physically present workers.
Biden’s plan seems to understand this. The GOP counterargument is little more than a rehash of old fears about deficits and their standard opposition to government spending, no matter what.
ETA: I read the story about the S&P Global report at The Hill, but could not find a link to the actual report itself. I wonder if it is behind a pay wall.
PPCLI
@Omnes Omnibus: Manchin wants to seem to be against dumping the filibuster in the abstract, so that when some bill that would be really, really good for West Virginia gets filibustered, he can then say something like “look, you know I view the filibuster as important, but only if it isn’t abused the way it is being abused right now. The filibuster of this bill is hurting Americans and it’s hurting West Virginians and if changing the filibuster rule is the only way to make this bill happen, then we must change it.”
When an abstract procedural rule goes up against a bill that puts people to work and gets money in their pockets, the procedural rule will finish second with the voters every time.
danielx
@taumaturgo:
About fucking time.
Barbara
@dmsilev:
In addition to it being completely ridiculous for them to just realize NOW that they actually might have to worry about what the rest of us worry about a lot of the time, for ourselves and our family members, it is a sign of Politico’s abject dishonesty that it failed to explain that Ms. Ambrosini’s hubby is the executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, trying nonstop to deprive other people of access to health care pretty much on a permanent basis, not to mention working overtime to deny Biden the presidency via disenfranchising millions of Michigan voters. GD, the entitlement these people feel for themselves. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, it still comes as a shock.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The Republicans basically taught the Democrats that they were obstructionists first, last, and always. It took the Ds a while to learn, but they’ve done it. Good for them.
JWR
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
There’s another good band name: “Palpable Mediocrity”. (Kentucky bluegrass not allowed.)
Ksmiami
@danielx: having the GOP threaten your life puts things in perspective I think
SFAW
@Ken:
Thanks for the laugh. I also would love to read about that.
Kelly
Same for my Blue Dog Dem Rep. Kurt Schrader. His rhetoric and national debt tally at the top of his web page drive me crazy, but he votes with us when we need him to.
Ken
I’ll file that under “give me a paper cut and squeeze some lemon juice on it”.
Chyron HR
@taumaturgo:
Have you considered the possibility that Bernie keeps losing Democratic presidential primaries by gigantic margins because he and his supporters hate Democrats?
Are you even mentally capable of comprehending why these two things might be related?
sdhays
@dmsilev: I saw that earlier this morning and Atrios highlighted it too. The sense of entitlement is breathtaking. Also, apparently one of those whining assholes’ husband is the head of the Michigan GQP, who was trying to burn down democracy in December. Politico neglected to include that context.
The icing on top is that if there had been a proper transition so that the requests hadn’t been made at the very last minute, the Biden administration might have worked something out.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@JWR: That is really teeth grinding, the whole mess is because the public didn’t listen to the state guidance and had to go to their holiday parties and infect each other.
dmsilev
@Ken: You just know that the “anonymous Biden official” was grinning as he or she added that to the email to Politico.
mrmoshpotato
@japa21: True! The media does love its “both sides!” bullshit though.
Soprano2
I know a lot of you don’t want to hear this, but I have some sympathy for these people. It’s a PITA when they keep changing the rules, seemingly for no reason. I can understand why they get traction with their complaints, because to the average person this seems petty and unfair.
Mary G
Funny how good a guy who won a long shot election to the Senate at the ripe old age of 29 and rose to be the partner of the best president of our lifetime turns out to be good at politics. Hoocoodanode?
I can’t wait to hear how he and Schumer got Moscow Mitch to turn over the committee power. I thought Adam was right and he’d never come around on that.
Doesn’t hurt that the Republicans are a hot mess, either. I’m enjoying the circular firing squad battling over the Q lady vs. Liz Cheney immensely.
Barbara
@Ken: Ms. Ambrosini is married to someone who undoubtedly has health insurance. What she wanted was paid parental leave. I don’t think you qualify for unemployment in her status, because the employment was for a specific term. It’s not that I am normally unsympathetic to people in her position, but her effort to pull on our heartstrings begins and ends with her own predicament. The rest of us deserve to be screwed six ways to Sunday.
sdhays
@Dorothy A. Winsor: More than that, they’ve run the Senate for the last 6 years like the Democrats don’t exist. They grudgingly had to deal with President Obama from 2015 to 2017 and Nancy Pelosi from 2019, but they have treated the Democratic minority in the Senate like utter shit.
Doddering DiFi excepted, I don’t think there are any particular warm personal feelings anymore toward any Republicans. Max Boot had a good opinion piece in the WaPost yesterday (or the day before) with the headline “Rob Portman has done more damage to America than MGT”, and it was excellent at laying out how people like Portman, by failing to lift even a pinky finger against Dump and fascism, is worse than the awful people they’ve unleashed.
I think Democrats don’t see these people the same way, on personal level as well as a political level.
The Moar You Know
@West of the Rockies: An impossible act to follow. So we found the worst Democrat in the state and picked him.
If I gotta vote for the son of a bitch twice because the recall passes I might just cut my own hand off instead. I despise Gavin Newsom. To say that he is the better alternative to any Republican is true if barely.
Miss Bianca
@Barbara: Right, to say nothing of the fact that paid parental leave would be appropriate if, say, she were *coming back* to her position as part of the Biden Administration. But she’s not, she wouldn’t be, and so the butt-hurt whining is even more offensive to me.
Barbara
@The Moar You Know: Look at it this way, his goal of a Senate seat or maybe even the presidency has been permanently impaired. However, given the state of the Republican party in California, essentially, governing by chaos (i.e., through recall) is their best opportunity to obtain power.
VOR
Party of ideas, don’t you know. See, they have two ideas.
Baud
As a reminder
The Moar You Know
@Mike in NC: You’re dealing with children who are manifesting Oppositional Defiance Disorder, but they’re legally adults. So here’s a better idea: mandate that they are forced to keep them for twenty years. They’ll sue over that and then the state can reluctantly take them all back.
And frankly I’d rather they keep them anyway. i like knowing up front if someone is a psycho asshole.
Barbara
@Miss Bianca: Apparently, the parental leave benefit requires the individual to return to work for 12 weeks, which of course, she could not do because her job ended as a political appointee at the end of the administration that hired her. She and others were seeking a waiver of that requirement. I mean, it’s hard to get me to feel hardhearted towards a new mom but I think she has succeeded.
sdhays
@Barbara: I also guarantee every single one of this pieces of shit oppose every single thing that Democrats have passed to help people in this situation. One of them has the audacity to call it an “entitlement”.
No, dipshit, it’s a benefit for Federal employees because your fucking party opposes making paid parental leave enforceable by law.
Captain C
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Only in blue states, if they could have worked it. Given how their other plans go, they would have screwed the blue states but screwed the red states worse.
Kent
No, they would have gone hard for more tax cuts and $$$ for business. Especially GOP-leaning businesses. And, of course, a deregulatory package to relieve them of any responsibility for Covid spread.
They would not have done nothing. They had a long list of “wore than nothing” to ram into place.
danielx
@Ksmiami:
Yeah, but….I remember telling a (formerly) Republican friend fifteen years ago that if the Republican Party had any principles beyond cutting taxes and bombing brown people I couldn’t discern them. It hasn’t changed, except they’re focused on brown people at home instead of abroad at the moment. Anything else, if Dems don’t do it it isn’t going to get done, as for example the nonexistent Republican plan to provide better health care for Americans.
I mean, they can’t even get out of their own way, so obstructing Democrats’ moves to do something – anything – to solve problems is SO much easier.
Baud
@Barbara:
She either gets the waiver or she gets a fake grievance against Democrats she can share with her social group. Win-win.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G:
and now the people who spent a year calling him a senile rapey racist are trying to take credit for his victory (and others they had nothing to do with) and policies.
Certain elements of Rose Twitter still think St Bernard is going to slay the evil dragon Neera Tanden, whom they hate because she’s close to Hillary Clinton and was mean to them on twitter (once again, it’s the Great Horseshoe
karen marie
@Jeffro: Republicans would have passed another tax cut.
mrmoshpotato
@VOR: BWHAHAHAHA! Well said!
sdhays
@Kent: Yep. They had 6 months to pass the CARES Act (or was it the HEROES Act? I can’t keep track of these silly acronyms), which probably would have helped Dump, but they just couldn’t be bothered. In October, Dump tries to use passing a COVID relief bill (I refuse to call it a stimulus) as a hostage for getting him reelected. Then, they finally get some money into the must-pass government funding bill on New Year’s Eve.
They would not be interested in taking another crack at this until late 2022, at the earliest, assuming that there would actually have been more elections had Dump won.
Ken
@karen marie: Well sure, how else can you ensure huge deficits to beat up Democrats with, or leverage to cut Social Security and Medicare?
JWR
@dmsilev:
Yeah, it’s hard not to chuckle, but I can see Biden letting them sweat for a few weeks before extending their benefits. Because he’s just that kind of guy.
Jeffro
@Mike in NC: “but MAH FREEDOM!” (to fly the flag of traitors to our country)
Aren’t these people aware of things called ‘bumper stickers’?
Belafon
I can’t embed from work, so here’s the text:
https://twitter.com/AJentleson/status/1356982022602899458
catclub
I alwas thought that saying – maybe by Hillel, that the entire message of the Torah is ‘That which is hateful to your neighbor, don’t do that. The rest is commentary” was a comment on the magazine Commentary.
Geminid
@Baud: Congresswoman Maloney also worked long and hard to get the Corporate Transparency Act enacted. This passed in December as part of the Defense authorization bill. A writer for Forbes Magazine called the Corporate Transparency Act the most consequential anti-corruption legislation in decades.
BruceFromOhio
@Mallard Filmore:
FireDogLake.
Baud
@Geminid:
I’m almost starting to think that there may be a difference between the two parties.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Belafon: somebody’s history is off, since the ARRA was passed and signed less than a month after Obama was inaugurated, but whatever got Manchin to yes
ETA: If Biden and Jentleson are all in on the ’09/10 revisionism, maybe I’m just going to have to accept all the “OBAMA HAD 60 votes in 2008!” crap. But I probably won’t.
catclub
@Subsole:
In a sane world. No. Passing by reconciliation means it is a taxing and budget issue. But they were able to wedge religious objections into the last monkey wrench thrown at the ACA.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I assume that was referring to Obamacare.
Ken
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think Machine was referring to the ACA negotiations, which IIRC did involve actual negotiations with Republicans and incorporation of some of their ideas into the bill, followed by all of them voting against it.
So the only things left out this time were incorporation of Republican ideas, and a long delay. Win-win!
catclub
@Belafon:
The GQP is still getting an easy ride. There is no listing of things where they have to say: if you do it this way, we will vote for it. For instance, would a $12/hr minimum wage get any GQP votes for the bill?
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
This!
My John and I were discussing this very thing this morning.
Barbara
@JWR: He can’t do it. You don’t just spend federal dollars because you sympathize with someone. It’s outrageous that they expect special treatment. When you are a political appointee, your job ends at the end of the administration. Everyone knows this. The only possible basis for sympathy is that they were probably pressured not to do anything to suggest that they understood Trump would be gone before they asked for consideration. So they basically deluged Biden’s team at the last minute. Seriously, no sympathy is warranted here at all.
MisterForkbeard
@JWR: The amount of entitlement here is astounding. She and her administration opposed this benefit and opposed the transition. Regardless, this absolutely shouldn’t have been a surprise for her: The law says you have to come back to work, and she wouldn’t be doing that.
If she didn’t contact White House HR and just say “Hey, so how does my leave work? What if Trump doesn’t win?” she screwed up really badly. She didn’t research, didn’t plan, and is screeching about how she really should have gotten this thing despite the law that she even opposed.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This is true. And yet, Biden’s presidential runs in 88 and 2008 were notably bad.
Other MJS
@BruceFromOhio:
That’s a keeper.
Benw
Can we start calling the covid relief bill Bidencare? Please?
Belafon
@catclub: I think Biden is correct. They could have lowered it to $12/hr, and Republicans would have still voted against it.
BruceFromOhio
@The Moar You Know:
This! I like knowing the asshole in the big fucking truck really is an asshole. And the 20-yr-mandate idea is a solid plan.
Repatriated
@BruceFromOhio: I thought “frist!” was an Eschaton thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@catclub: no doubt he has, as they say, evolved, and the times met the candidate and the candidate met the times. I keep saying, Biden was the only top tier 2020 primary candidate who didn’t wildly misread the political landscape of 2016 and ’18. Which I keep harping on in the hopes we learn the lessons of those two cycles and 2020 as ’22 approaches.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Barbara: The specific issue that has Southern California upset with Newsome is what to do with all the dead bodies. There are a lot of poor, dead people whose family can’t find any place to take the body in LA. As this Mortician explains…
https://youtu.be/QdpSgEQKVNE
I suspect the problem is Newsome has a lot of connections to the SF Bay Area, not so much to LA and the city of LA seem to be asleep at the wheel.
JWR
@Soprano2:
I do have sympathy for most of them, but as Enhanced Voting Techniques pointed out up at #70, some of them are just really into bitching about Newsome’s (ever changing) rules, and never about the lack of any financial support from the last administration, and that’s where local news could do a much better job. But the ones who never closed, despite repeated warnings from the Health Department, well screw ’em.
BruceFromOhio
@Belafon:
LOL, nice shout out to Terminator 2. Let’s work on saving the world for reals, this time.
mali muso
On a happy note, I just watched the first Black, South Asian woman VP swear in the first openly gay cabinet member with both of their husbands in attendance. All the feels!
Baud
@mali muso:
I’m concerned that the oath Pete gave to defend the US against all enemies foreign and domestic will come off as partisan.
Repatriated
@Jeffro: The entire point is that it’s issued by the state, because the “treason in defense of slavery” constituency is powerful enough to make it happen.
Like having a state-issued Nathan Bedford Forrest statue hood ornament.
BruceFromOhio
@Repatriated:
Unknown, it was annoying as fuck then, and still is.
Ken
What chapter of Revelations is that from?
(Kidding, I emphasize. Though memes and tweets claiming “Nostradamus predicted destruction of US by Biden and Harris” are circulating, according to the ever-reliable news source cracked.com.)
mali muso
@Baud: Yes, it does seem biased, doesn’t it?
catclub
@Mike in NC:
off to check the Mississippi DMV
J R in WV
@sdhays:
Here I have to ask — who the hell is “MGT” — my best guess is M-slur, G-slur TRUMP, but would like to know the two slurs for future reference.
zhena gogolia
@mali muso:
Great, thanks!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mali muso: in this instance, I won’t pretend to be sorry to be That Guy
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV:
Should be MTG, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
I resist referring to her like that, as if she were RGB.
Ken
Masochist. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
zhena gogolia
(Sarcasm tag)
gene108
@zhena gogolia:
Ruth Gader Binsberg?
VeniceRiley
Daily Beast holds forth on the NEXT conspiracy theory these ghouls are pushing.
In short- we will all be eating insects and the elites will be eating steak and laughing at us.
So, Soylent Green plottish.
zhena gogolia
@gene108:
Ha, I knew as I was typing it that I was getting it wrong, but too lazy to think about it!
catclub
@J R in WV: never mind
Belafon
@J R in WV: We really should be referring to her as Greene. I suspect it’s being encouraged because of AOC.
catclub
@Ken:
They still have it.
I am disappointed they do not have Lysdexia Awareness, but they do have Dyslexia Awareness, plates.
J R in WV
AH, I know who MTG is, but there was a typo, so confused. Hoping Ms Greene get arrested for carrying w/o a permit while out and about in DC. imagine there’s a substantial penalty for that in the District. Make her spend some of that money in court.
Thanks all for setting me straight!
Ksmiami
@danielx: oh I agree the GOP are grifters and vandals and have no policy goals other than moar tax cuts and abortion banz…
sdhays
@J R in WV: Sorry for the typo. It is for Marjorie Taylor Greene.
I didn’t want to write out the whole damn name and I ended up having to do it anyway.
Ken
@VeniceRiley: If we ever get to that state, I confidently predict the Republicans (or whatever takes over their niche) will be saying “Anyone who wants beef steak can buy it. If someone doesn’t make enough to afford anything other than insect protein powder, they need to get a better job, or spend less on other expenses like rent and oxygen.”
Subsole
@Baud: I chuckled.
JPL
@zhena gogolia: You’re allowed to do that during a pandemic.
Subsole
@Ken: I really wish those jackholes would actually read some Nostradamus. Quickest way I can imagine to break his mystique.
Just quatrain after quatrain of “the leopard eyes the eagle’s feather, above the sun a piper plays, oh what a travesty in Calais, Lyons!”
Who’s sittin’ still for that? Nobody. At least Revelations had some poetry to the verbiage.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The main thing that I have seen has been discontent with Newsom over his lock down policies in general, and his shutting down of restaurants and bars and other businesses in particular.
This has been amped up recently in complaints that he has been wildly inconsistent in shutting down and re-opening various communities and businesses.
mali muso
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sorry, not sorry! I laughed.
JWR
@Barbara:
Got it. (Can you tell that I know nothing about federal spending? ;) )
@MisterForkbeard:
Okay, now I’m feeling very unsympathetic. Also too, these people were very likely T**** supporters, which makes it easier for me to feel this way.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@VeniceRiley: So we will have diet of lobster and shrimp under Plan Biden.
The horror.
Subsole
@J R in WV: Marjorie Taylor Greene
The freshman qo-qonspirator in the new Republican Qongress.
brantl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I don’t think that velveeta coloration is “blonde”, do you?
Ken
Neither did Trump, but that didn’t stop him.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@VeniceRiley: From the Daily Beast article
“I am not the post truther! you’re the post truther!”
debbie
Not able to link from a separate system, but Marketwatch reports that the DOJ has dropped that lawsuit against Yale about discriminating against Asians and Karens and Karls everywhere. More good news!
Ken
@brantl: Are we talking about his hair or skin? I think we settled on “cheeto” for the skin color. You can also try matching it against the XKCD color survey to see what the general public (or at least, that part of it that responds to internet surveys by Randall Munroe) calls the color.
zhena gogolia
@Subsole:
Apropos:
Kent
There is no “very likely” involved here. They were all hard core MAGA as was every single damn political appointee in the Trump Administration. They had full loyalty tests. Everyone affected here are some kind of big GOP supporters. The woman in question, for example, is married to the head of the Michigan GOP.
Every damn one of them was also inserted into those agencies to make them run WORSE. The woman in question was in the Communications office of NOAA so basically had two jobs in that position: (1) squelch all climate change research and reporting and censor it as much as possible, and (2) carry water from Trump when necessary as happened during “Sharpie-Gate” when the political appointees in NOAA ‘disciplined’ the career folks for contradicting Trump’s lies.
That is who we are talking about here.
What makes it so damn juicy was the Biden folks saying….well, if you had cooperated during the transition instead of following lock-step behind Trump then we might have had time to accommodate and review your case. But hell, you were one of the people in the agency that obstructed the transition. So…oh well [shrug].
As a former NOAA employee I expect this woman was completely despised by the career folks who had to put up with her. They are probably gleefully pulling the plug on her ability to milk a bunch of paid maternity leave from the government AFTER she had already left.
laura
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Newsom. Gavin Newsom. It’s not that hard of a name to spell correctly.
Leto
@zhena gogolia: And people were worried about what Randy’s next career steps would be. Rethuglicans have a plethora of mockable talent to keep comedians employed for the foreseeable future.
Felanius Kootea
@sdhays: Apparently some Trump voters in Texas who weren’t paying attention voted for him because of his signature on the check. They were grateful that he did something for them and Pelosi got no credit for her part in getting them relief.
SFBayAreaGal
@Subsole: I see what you’re doing and I love it.
Salty Sam
THIS! X 1000!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@brantl: “Straw” comes to mind, or “Dead Albino Possum”. But the thought of every GOP Rep doing a Trump impersonation as a sign of loyalty to Dear Leader is amusing.
trollhattan
@JWR:
IDK how the proposed CA gov recall is supposed to structured, or if that’s even in the petition language.
Last time we were truly bamboozled by Republican shenanigans. The recall had two parts:
There is no California Republican with Arnold’s name recognition or comedy potential (you assholes in Minnesota know of what I speak) so unless they have a trick candidate up their sleeves I don’t see how this gets them a Republican governor. “Decline to state” registrations, our version of independent, outnumber Republican registrations.
Newsom ain’t perfect but he had an ill-advised dinner and listened too much to “But mah bidnez” complaints and eased shutdowns too soon. I’m unaware of rape, self-dealing, giving state secrets to Russians or any such charges that might boot, say, a president from office.
I’d like the rest of the whiny, rich Orange County Republicans to leave for Texas. I’ll help pack.
JWR
@Ken: Heh. ;)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator: What ever a Democrat does is horrible in the eyes of a Republican, but “Can someone get my dead grandmother out of my living room for godsakes!” is something that will effect everyone.
Geminid
@Belafon: I got a kick out of the sarcastic Ragnarok Lobster today, when he said apropos Greene: “Can we stop retweeting that seditious blonde cracker?”
RSA
@Kent:
Exactly. The pain they’re feeling is partly on the individual workers, but of course it’s partly on their management chain who left them out to dry.
laura
@trollhattan: he also was sued by the for profit church businesses and lost – so part of the who must close who may open is outside of his control. Add in rural counties who insisted that the Rona would never show up in east cousin jump county – but you know that too being as we share our state’s capitol.
mali muso
@trollhattan:
@trollhattan:
I was but a youthful college student in Minnesota back in the day, but I remember waking up the day after the election to find out that Jesse “the Body” Ventura had won the governor’s seat…in an early preview of voters doing it for the lolz. Quite a shock it was then.
trollhattan
@gene108:
The Notorious Red Green Blue. I’ve been monitoring her.
Kent
Knowing how to get shit done within government, and running a primary campaign while wading in Iowa pig shit are two completely separate skill sets.
Biden’s always been a much better administrator and legislator than he has been a campaigner. Sanders was basically the opposite. Great at campaigning but sucky when it comes to the levers of power.
trollhattan
@laura:
I laffed. :-)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@laura: People don’t know what to do with their dead relative,s but all you care about is how some politicians name is spelt. That’s totally messed up. Don’t talk to me anymore.
Kent
No, no, no. THERE ARE NO RANK AND FILE POLITICAL APPOINTEES. NONE. These folks WERE the management chain that followed lock step behind Trump and obstructed the transition.
There is no such thing as a low level worker bee political appointee. The whole point of political appointees is that they are high level management folks who direct policy. Always. There are only a couple thousand across all of government. They don’t waste them for non-important positions.
montanareddog
@trollhattan:
On the latter attribute, Devin Nunes asks politely that you hold his beer
Jeffro
Canada just declared the Proud Boys a terrorist group.
Care to comment, Rep McCarthy? How about you, Senator Turtle? RNC Chair McDaniel?
patroclus
Personally, I favor a $3.8 trillion package. But I’d be willing to compromise down to $1.9 trillion in the interests of bi-partisanship and unity.
Barbara
@Kent:If they had asked early on there might have been a way to find little pockets of money or temporary job placement to accommodate the request, but you can’t hope to get that if you swamp an incoming administration at the last minute. They have enough to do to get their own people on board.
Ken
@Kent: Though RSA does still have a point, in that the “management chain” for these people consisted of Trump and one cabinet secretary (unless the secretary had resigned). And in November and December, that management chain was telling people they would be fired if they even thought about sending out resumes, much less reaching out to the Biden transition team to ask about paid leave.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I remember a CA voter being interviewed as he left the polling
place saying he voted for AS because it would be good if those legislators (he didn’t say “those clowns in Sacramento, what a bunch of clowns!”, but that was his vibe) were afraid of the governor, like he was really the Terminator, or at least the Kindergarten Cop.
I also remember when (at least I remember reports, if true) that he had a state road crew make a pot hole so he could have himself filmed filling it in with a shovel, sleeves rolled up and tie slightly loosened.
I appreciate him lending his voice to the anti-trump movement, and even more his throwing money behind protecting voting rights, but he really was a forerunner to trump in a lot of ways.
JWR
@Kent:
LoL! Juicy indeed! (Now I’m starting to hate these people more than I already did.)
Ken
@patroclus: I suggested something like that a couple of days ago. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard to find 10 Democratic Senators to visit Biden with their counter-proposal to spend 3.2 trillion? That would balance out the 10 Republicans with their 600 billion, and bipartisanship would meet in the middle at 1.9 trillion.
Leto
@Barbara: “Your piss poor planning does not constitute an emergency on my part. Suck it.” – Biden WH
Kathleen
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Beshear has been amazing. He’s been hammered constantly by Rethugs but has maintained strength. nerve, calm and leadership. Part natural talent and part learning lessons imparted by his father. He even dealt with being hung in effigy and threatened at his own house. No offense but KY doesn’t deserve him.
Kathleen
@dmsilev: Nice burn! Sssssssssssss!
Aleta
@Jeffro: I wonder if Canada has an overly broad law and act like the US’s regarding ‘material support for terrorism’ that [here is wishful thinking] would link Mr. “Proud Boys stand by” to them by association.
Kathleen
@mali muso: Me three (chortling in an empathetic manner not really).
Geminid
@Kathleen: I’d like to see Beshear win reelection, and then go on to take McConnell’s Senate seat in 2026. He seems popular, and he might do this. Kentucky Republicans can’t win statewide races through gerrymandering.
catclub
This is where Obama led us astray. You have the right idea. But Obama repeatedly offered the best deal on the first go round.
JWR
@trollhattan: Hoo boy, that recall was a mess! I saw one of the better political analysts on local TV news, don’t remember who, but he was saying much of what you just wrote, and reminded me that Arnold won a minority of votes, but got in anyway.
He also said that the Mayor of San Diego, “a Republican in a sea of blue”, was thinking seriously about filing papers to run. But I noted on a previous thread that I don’t expect any R to win statewide.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
My first thought was the same I had when Cruz showily announced he would argue trump’s election challenges in front of the USSC, “Don’t they know he’s dumb and crazy enough to take you up on that?” (in that long NYT piece about trump’s overthrow plans, they say he did think Cruz would do it) Then I thought, unlike Cruz, Gaetz is potentially crazy and dumb enough to do it.
Potentially, because some never trumper (Wilson?) said the other day that Gaetz wants McCarthy’s job.
JWR
@montanareddog:
Can you say Daryl Issa?
catclub
@Ken:
Bureaucracy-wise, it is probably not strictly illegal to take what is known as ‘terminal leave’ (i.e. retirement date is Jun30, take accumulated leave starting in May). But it is seriously frowned on. Your leave request will probably be denied.
…. maybe I will try sick leave instead.
Kathleen
BruceFromOhio
When you go so far as to piss off the Canadians, you’ve really fucked the dog.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JWR: didn’t Darrell Issa fund (at least in large part) the recall movement, only to have AS swoop in and take the race from him? ISTR there was another goofy actor who got a not insignificant number of votes? and a porn star? don’t remember her numbers
Kent
Exactly. The first rule of politics (or negotiation) is never negotiate with yourself. Make the other side earn every concession with one of their own.
lowtechcyclist
@taumaturgo:
This. Damn, today I *am* proud to be a Democrat, and this is why. And man, it feels good!
@Jeffro:
How dare you say they never offer anything else to voters! Why, you’ve totally forgotten gutting regulations that protect workers, consumers, and the environment! And of course the more-than-occasional misogyny.
Ken
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recall_election has the list. I forget Larry Flynt was on it. Not spotting the porn star, though like you I remember one running. As for Issa, it says:
Kent
Former Fed here.
These women had several options for maternity leave.
They had all the regular sick leave that they had accumulated during their 4 years in service, which accumulates at I think 4 hours per pay period or about 2.5 weeks per year. If she hadn’t used up any sick leave previously she could have legally used all of that in her final weeks in office no problem.
She had her annual leave (vacation pay) which also accumulates at the same rate. So another 2.5 weeks/year of annual leave accumulated that she can either use, or cash in and get the cash value when she leaves.
The additional 12 weeks of family leave that she wanted is from a different law that requires you to return to work after your leave is over. This is understandable as employers don’t want to pay for 3 months of maternity leave for employees who have no intention of coming back.
This is also not an issue of health insurance. COBRA and other laws make sure that she gets to keep her Federal health insurance during this time. She just isn’t going to keep drawing her Federal paycheck until the end of April even though she left in January.
My guess? There were probably some Trump-friendly political appointees somewhere in the HR chain who promised these political appointees that they could get waivers and get away with taking 3 months of paid family leave from a job that they weren’t returning to. But the Trump temper tantrum non-Transition basically mucked up all the works for all these sorts of personnel actions and now they are pleading with the Biden folks to fix what the Trump folks fucked up for them, and give them the special privilege they thought they were promised.
Jeffro
So…it’s kind of a cornucopia of badness, is what you’re saying? A veritable buffet of stupidity and meanness, instead of the two-bite snack I was suggesting?
I concur. ;)
Kathleen
@J R in WV: The Marjorie QOP monster.
Baud
@Kent:
I’m happy with Biden and am always glad to learn from past experience, but Biden was able to accomplish this because there is practically no serious dissent within the Democratic Party right now. Obama never had that with either the stimulus or the ACA. It’s apples and oranges, and people trying to compare the two situations is putting a damper on my good mood.
Brachiator
@Ken:
More important question: who does Nostradamus like in the Super Bowl?
Ken
@Kent: So in my benighted socialist hell-hole state, if an employee leaves a company, the company has to pay the employee for unused vacation time. Is there a similar provision for Federal employees?
Baud
@Ken: I believe so. Unused vacation time gets cashed out. Not sick leave though.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I simply not have seen this as a big issue until recently. But the jabs at Newsom have been coming since the beginning of the pandemic.
PPCLI
@dmsilev: Though, fortunately for Ms. Ambrosini, her children will not be taken away from her and shipped off to an adoption agency with no way to find them later. So she should count her blessings.
JWR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes, he did! I’d forgotten about that. But I do remember that he was a big part of the recall, and the porn star, and the actor, who was he? Dunno. Don’t really care. It was a friggin’ circus.
Ken
Quatrain CXCLVII seems a match:
Upon the green square the knights will clash,
Darksome ravens fly to the east as a princess weeps.
Lo, the turn of a card will decide the fate of all,
And treasures lost to the sea will be restored.
— Nostradamus
Disclaimer: I just made that up, but it’s as accurate as any of his real quatrains.
rikyrah
@Joey Maloney:
You tell the truth.
dmsilev
The Post:
Good. We both strip the loon of her committee assignments and force the entire House GOP to go on record either pissing off the loony base or pissing off sane people.
Brachiator
@JWR:
Such an innocent time! I still remember stern pundits mocking California and assuring readers and viewers that other states were much more serious about government and would never elevate a mere celebrity with no political experience to high office.
Punchy
That’s an interesting and quite….startling….turn of phrase.
Kathleen
@Geminid: He would be so good. Because I’m in Cincy I see a lot of KY news and clips of him giving Co I’d updates. I saw his tempered rage when he talked about protesters with guns under his children’s bedroom windows. Angry and intense without being out of control. How he and Whitmer have maintained their poise and humor in the face of death plots and armed protesters amazes me. So proud of these gutsy Dems who keep on keeping on without drama.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: In December of 2008, before Obama was inaugurated, Evan Bayh tried to form an official Blue Dog caucus in the Senate.
It blew up in Bayh’s face pretty quick, as I recall, but Bayh and his friends, including a bunch of peopel not named in that article, were still in the Senate. Also, not mentioned in this article, but as I recall because I recall my surprise, alleged Boulder hippie Mark Udall was planning to join the group. Everybody see that Third Way was described as a “progressive think tank”?
I wonder if Adam Jentelson ever ran into Jim Manley, or Harry Reid, when he was working for Harry Reid.
Ken
@Punchy: I believe the idiom is “screwed the pooch.”
Immanentize
@Kent: Perhaps it should also be mentioned that when she started her leave, Trump had list. She literally had no job to return to.
Also — when was the baby born? Maternity leave need not be taken at the time of birth in most jobs (feds may be different) but usually within either six months or a year of birth.
And, when did she get hired and where was her accrued time? As implied in your list, if she had taken maternity leave first when Trump was still president, she would have been paid out in cash for the rest of her accrued leave time(s).
Immanentize
@Brachiator: The Patriots.
Immanentize
@PPCLI: The kind of person her actions suggest might not see that as a loss.
Punchy
@dmsilev: MTG is going to lose her fucking mind if/when this happens. I’d say until the end of next week, all Dem leadership should be wearing bullet-proof vests in House meetings and the chamber; I’m not joking.
She is going to explode in rage, and it will be fugly.
rikyrah
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
NEVER FORGET,
In the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the GOP chose ECONOMIC TREASON against this country in 2009.
So, don’t be shocked now.
Immanentize
@dmsilev: I love this. They let McCarthy do the right thing. He did not. So the whole of the House will have a spectacle regarding Greene. Win win winning win.
sdhays
@Kent: According to the article, they put in their requests for waivers at the last minute because there basically was no transition process on the Dump side. If there had been an orderly transition, all of these people would have at least had proper answers in December, and some of them may have even been granted waivers.
Since they put in their requests to the Biden transition just weeks before the new administration was taking over, it was too late for the Biden team to even consider it.
I just don’t understand why they aren’t submitting resumes to the Trump Organization; surely Dear Leader will take care of them, right?
Kent
Yes, for vacation time but not sick leave. But she was entitled to use all her sick leave up on her way out the door.
The only thing to this story is that a bunch of high level Trumpers tried to milk the system for as much as they could on their way out the door and it turns out it just wasn’t legal for them to do what they though they had been promised. Which was to take 3 months family leave after quitting for a job that you aren’t returning to. Not legal in the Federal government and certainly not in any private sector job.
Boo hoo.
Kent
@sdhays: Yep, that’s about it. Obstruction has it’s price. They were part of the obstruction and part of the attempt to overthrow a legitimate presidential election. And they lost.
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think if Bayh had offered to pay for a nice lunch, he would have gotten more interest in his little club.
JWR
@dmsilev:
One of NPR’s crack political reporters said that this was risky because of the precedent it would set. Meh. What I think is that the Republicans are terrified of a unified Democratic party, and don’t know how to react to such a remarkable beast.
zhena gogolia
The front-pagers have forgotten us again.
catclub
yes. The real question is, does such accumulated leave also contribute to how long your final service length is – and calculation of pension therefrom.
Barbara
@sdhays: In other words, they were probably told that if they acted in a way that acknowledged the change in administration, they would lose their jobs immediately. This was rumored to be the case with a whole host of people. Ergo, they couldn’t ask for a waiver or some other accommodation from their own bosses. They had to wait for Biden’s people. There is no acknowledgment of this in the article. That they are victims of their dear leader is never raised.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Oh, that Obama, he was so weak and so stupid. //
laura
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: please take your dismissive mansplaining about how recalling my Governor will resolve the issues surrounding the staggering number of home deaths and the lack of resources for removal and any kind of dignified funeral services for the families and fold them before filing.
Subsole
@trollhattan:
Subtle.
rikyrah
@JWR:
If you are mad about Newsom and how he’s handled COVID,
I’m trying to see the Republican alternative.
How do you sell that.
We should have opened sooner for more deaths?
It’s not like there’s a Republican in California who was ‘ we should be stricter’ with COVID guidelines.
Immanentize
Ok. I broke down and read the damn politico article:
Too bad, so sad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this 538 piece on the rightward drift of Senate Dems is from August, 09, so after the ARRA but before the ACA votes. I never would’ve lumped Russ Feingold in with the Blue Dogs, though his moralistic preening during the Clenis trial always rubbed me the wrong way
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: thanks. Very interesting but not, I guess, surprising?
Subsole
@Ken: I always loved that his first three or four quatrains were just him talking about how he conducted his divinations. Like, okay dude. Pad that paper out, I guess. Plus ca change.
WaterGirl
@Belafon:
JWR
@rikyrah:
TV news did a segment with one of the leaders of the recall effort, and he had a bunch of boilerplate complaints about Newsom, saying stuff like, “look at our state! We got Covid, we got homeless people, we got this and we got that” (and a whole lot of other things that no one politician could ever solve alone). Just like the last time, the Rs are playing this like it’s a three ring circus. These are not serious people.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Immanentize: not to me, cause as an old timer, my memory stretches clear on back to (checks notes) thirteen years ago, but it seems it would be surprising to a whole bunch of people in the internet, even here at stodgy, boring, center-left old (oooolllld) Balloon Juice who seem to think that in 2009, Barack Obama stood athwart progressivism and cried “Stop!”
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
This is not rational. Some people see that Newsom has stumbled and this gives them an opportunity to kick him some more.
A recall is about the only way that a Republican can win statewide office in California.
No Republican has offered any alternative to Newsom’s actions. It’s all just empty anger and frustration.
But sometimes, bullshit works.
brantl
@Ken: His hair is “old-haystack” white.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: That was most excellent.
surfk9
The recall is at 30%. No way it succeeds. If Newsom does it right , it can be part of his re-election campaign as well.
JWR
Just now on NBC, Conan Nolan, (a right-leaning commentator), says that yes, we’re gonna have a RECALL! I guess they managed to collect the remaining nearly half a million still needed signatures overnight! Amazing, Mr. Nolan! Keep up the… work?
Captain C
@Other MJS: Grand Quisling Party?
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: The Gray’s Sports Almanac
sdhays
Every time I see Majorie Taylor Greene’s name, I think of this skit from A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Kent
Accumulated leave and pension are two completely separate issues. The pension formula is fixed in stone. It’s basically 1% x the number of years of service x your highest average 3 years of pay. If you have at least 30? years of service then you get bumped to 1.1% I think. I don’t think you get pension credit for bought out annual leave. Your COS date is the date you actually left and turned in your badge and the check you get for unused leave isn’t considered work time. But it would be likely to work anyway. Adding some extra weeks to your work history in January of 2021 isn’t going to pad your pension because that still isn’t going to count as a full year. I think you would have to stretch it out into July to have it count as another full year. There are no fractions of years.
Annual leave you get in the form of cash (a day salary for each day of accumulated annual leave when you depart). Unused sick leave stays in your Federal account so that if you get rehired at any other Federal job at any point in the future then you get your banked sick leave restored to your account.
Sick leave accrues a 4 hours per pay period or about 2.5 weeks/year. Annual leave accrues at 4 hours per pay period also, for your first 3 years, at 6 hours per pay period from years 3-15 and at 8 hours per pay period above 15 years of service. You can only carry a maximum of 240 hours of annual leave from one year to the next. So come December of each year if your balance is above 240 hours you either use it or lose it.
Just One More Canuck
@Jeffro: To quote Opus, “Benji Saves the Universe,’ has brought the word ‘BAD’ to new levels of badness. Bad acting. Bad effects. Bad everything. This film just oozed rottenness from every bad scene…Simply bad beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness”
Ruckus
@narya:
And actually helping people will go a long ways to open those closed minds about what is better for the country, helping 90+% of the population or screwing 90+% of the population. Won’t of course change every mind, some garbage is just too rotten that it always smells.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Great Paul Williams tune.
The Moar You Know
@JWR: Perhaps we should rip the kid out of her arms and put it in a chain-link cage down in Juarez and then “forget” where we put the little wee one, and lose her phone number.
If she wants equitable treatment, that is.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: Greene thinks she is so important that she deserves 3 names? Let’s give her 5.
Citizen Alan
I found Revelations to be quite inspirational and strangely hopeful when viewed through the lens of 1st Century Christian who were being persecuted by The Great Beast Nero. Then, centuries later, the fucking Evangelicals got hold of it.
catclub
@Kent: 1)nobody on this blog who is not a federal employee cares about these details. all the reader needs to know is that amounts of sick leave and annual leave make a difference to pension calculations.
2) you got many of them wrong.
Cheers
Barbara
@The Moar You Know:
In her case, the specific law required that in order to get the benefit you have to return to work for a minimum of 12 weeks, but since she was a political appointee she couldn’t do that — her job ended. Ergo, by operation of law she could not claim the benefit at all, because she gave birth at a point where there was no possibility she could return to work for 12 weeks after taking leave. She needed a waiver, and honestly, it’s not even clear that a waiver would be legal. Whoever authorized her leave was not required to read the statute to her. She could find and read it herself.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
I think they should move to Narnia.
They can be their rich, republican selves, with no bother from the unwashed masses, in a world in which dreams of power and isolation reign supreme and no one else has to put up with their stupid shit and they learn what it’s like to have to listen to rich fuckers who think that their money has bought them respectability, fame and intelligence.
JWR
@The Moar You Know: Works for me. ;)
SoupCatcher
Just watched the end of Psaki’s press conference.
“Did anyone not get a question?”
Pauses to make sure.
“Okay.”
Love her.
West of the Rockies
@VeniceRiley:
Wait… I thought we were supposed to be eating children! Man, there goes the cookbook I was working on.
brantl
@Punchy: You’ve never heard the phrase “screwed the pooch”?; this is the saltier version.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SoupCatcher: I’m not a spiteful person, I mean, of course I am, but I know you’re supposed to pretend not to be, so…
I’m not a spiteful person, but I hope that ex-Washington Examiner (current Daily Beast? or Politico?) reporter who tried to complain about “harassment” had to take the twitter app out of her phone.
No more than that, I’m spiteful not psycho
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: I won’t vote for the recall, although I would like nothing better (Newsom is really that bad and those of us who were living in the Bay Area when he was mayor were screaming this at the top of our lungs, to be ignored as centrists/Third Way/DINOs/wannabe Republicans, and now it’s too damn late) but the only Republican of consequence who will be running is John Cox, and he got pasted last time out with just over 35% of the vote. What would be far more likely to happen, although the GOP does not understand this, would be that Newsom would be replaced with a better Democrat.
And if the recall passes (extremely unlikely) and a better (almost any) Democrat runs, I sure as shit will not be voting for Newsom. He has turned out to be everything I have said he was going to be on this here blog for years.
leeleeFL
@Barbara: Not even a little bit surprising, really. Lindsay Graham is and always has been a suck-up to anyone who he thought could make people miserable. After he has trashed them. The surprise is always that the people he sucks up to allow him a space.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I call her Margarine.
Searcher
A Republican is someone who worries that saving a hundred thousand lives, reducing unemployment by 40%, and growing the economy might be politically popular.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
At some point after you’ve stolen everything not bolted down, it becomes actual work to steal more. They are not quite at that point yet, we got close in 2008, but had a new guy coming in who actually not only didn’t mind hard work, was actually capable of it. It helps to remember who didn’t get hurt in the depression, rich motherfuckers. My grandfather fixed their cars then, he said he always had plenty of work, every single day of the depression. But a lot of them are like the pillow guy, just smart enough to make money by selling cheap crap but not smart enough to keep his ignorant mouth shut and stay out of the limelight, just like his leader, one donald j. shitforbrains.
JoyceH
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I saw a woman tell a reporter that she knew Trump was a great businessman because she’d seen every episode of The Apprentice. People like that need to be locked into a small room until they’ve watched every episode ever made of Celebrity Jeopardy, and it really sinks in with them that the television Brilliant Scientist can be played by an actor with an IQ below room temperature.
Delk
What pathetic grifting. F- for Writing on the Wall 101.
germy
germy
gene108
@Ken:
I’ve done work in HR before. There are different types of leave, and all are not created equal. The most common are sick leave, vacation pay, and personal time off (PTO). These are defined by federal and state laws, and relatively consistent from state to state.
Sick leave can be accumulated over your career with employer, but employers can cap the amount that’s carried over.
Unused vacation pay can be cashed out at the end of the service period, in which it accumulates pretty much in any state that I’ve seen. You can also give your employees the choice to roll it over to the next year.
PTO is newer, and gives employers more flexibility regarding allowing employees to cash out unused PTO days at the end of the service period, roll it over, or make it a use it or lose it benefit with no carry over.
zhena gogolia
I guess 6 hours on the same post is not a record.
gene108
@dmsilev:
I don’t think sane people vote Republican
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Newsom seemed to start out OK. I am a Southern Californian and didn’t have much of an opinion about him one way or another. I still don’t know what the big dissatisfaction is. But I admit I am probably a big ol centrist.
Jeffro
Great new numbers for anyone not in the GQP: Biden and his agenda quite popular, Quinnipac finds
PST
I just got vaccinated this afternoon. One reason I’m proud to be a Democrat is that even without new legislation, the Biden-Harris administration has got both vaccination deliveries and daily vaccinations up. I was at Loretto Hospital in Chicago, which is on the West Side convenient to poor and non-white neighborhoods. The process was quick and orderly. There was a real cross-section of Chicago there, including many using wheelchairs or walkers. Staff and fellow patients seemed cheerful and friendly. What a relief!
Alien Radio
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-capitol-rico-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-mulls-using-law-designed-to-prosecute-mafia-against-capitol-rioters-idUSKBN2A32W2
It’s RICO
Ruckus
@Barbara:
If you look at the overall epidemic situation CA is yes median. Considering the population density, not doing all that bad, all things considered.
Look at Dianne Feinstein. She hasn’t run unopposed but she’s won her last two elections, even as she should have been building a replacement, as Barbra Boxer did. And won a new record for number of votes for a senator. This is in some ways a strange state politically. Lots of possibly good candidates, but a political system that it takes a lot of name recognition to get anywhere and it’s difficult to build that because of the size and diversity and that every step may be politically fatal. Look at Newsom, not a bad governor at all, and sure he’s not going to make every decision perfectly, but who is? His last misstep? Was it really, or is the real situation on the ground the problem? I’d give it 50-50 around where I live in LA county.
danielx
By way of LGM: stop the presses, as they used to say in days of dead tree journamalism!
Boy, that one’s gonna totally destroy the upstart Biden administration! No way they can claim “both sides”, eh?
Fuck Ken Vogel with a rusty farm tool.
BellyCat
@trollhattan:
But have you screened her?
WaterGirl
@SoupCatcher: I’m not to the end yet, but they just talked about Space Force. Sadly, she says there is no plan for Biden to ditch the space force and that it has the full support of the president.
Hopefully that means there are redeeming factors for the space force and that it won’t be implemented in whatever adolescent way T**** had in mind.
trollhattan
@danielx:
Probably tainted money from Borat moviefilm.
Another Scott
@Ken: It never works like that though.
Remember Jimmy Carter’s first budget proposal? (IIRC) The Congress declared it “dead on arrival”. So, he had OMB come up with another one. (When they were supposedly expecting him to play the usual kabuki game.)
That’s an extreme example, but Congress isn’t going to waste time on numbers that aren’t plausible. And the OMB and the rest of the administration knows what Congress considers acceptable before they put keyboard to Excel.
Budget battles in normal times are usually on the margins. Maybe they cut some $100B (over 30 years) defense program. Maybe they zero-out $25M for aid to the DPRK. Maybe. But usually it’s marginal changes. Not factors of 2. The process is too difficult and has too many choke points to waste time on numbers that everyone knows aren’t going to happen.
Biden’s taken the right approach. He totaled up the needs, got a number, and that’s the number he wants. He’s fighting for it, and all signs are that he’s going to get it. The GOP (especially in the Senate) will grouse and complain, but they were never going to vote for anything anyway (otherwise they would have done something about the HEROES Act after May 15, 2020).
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
@trollhattan:
Who knew?
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
This looks pretty damn bipartisan to me.
Ruckus
@Subsole:
That’s all they see, by, large and every other way. They don’t want government, not one that actually functions because that makes it massively harder to pillage to the last penny.
Kent
Breaking news on. MSNBC. Manhattan DA investigating Bannon for state charity fraud. Along with his cronies. Trump pardoned him from Federal charges but not from any state charges. Hah!
Starboard Tack
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I’m going to need some potato rolls, too.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
Funny, though. Everyone knew that Trump’s tax plan (or the GOP leaders who actually wrote it) was going to add to the deficit. Same with the first pandemic stimulus package. But they lied and denied.
Biden seems to be working within the realm of what is acceptable to the Fed and to reasonable economists.
germy
@danielx:
That’s nothing!
Tara Reade’s op-ed for the Russian Times will surely put an end to this administration:
geg6
@Citizen Alan:
Which kinda goes to show that Nero had the right idea.
Baud
@danielx:
Holy shit! He’ll have to change Air Force 1’s colors now.
What a pathetic creature Vogel is.
Immanentize
@Alien Radio: That must be sending Popehat around the bend.
Immanentize
Popehat — RICO: (I was right mostly)
Barbara
@germy:
In the annals of “Because every fucking thing in the world is actually about me . . .”
Baud
@germy:
If a Democrat is credible, then people who make allegations against a Democrat must be credible. It’s the law!
geg6
@Alien Radio:
That warms the cockles of my heart.
Barbara
@Immanentize:
If they are considering RICO, my guess is that it would be more for the potential to gather evidence from potential co-conspirators than any other reason. Even RICO requires a predicate offense of sufficient gravity to pursue. I don’t think misdemeanor trespass qualifies.
germy
Ken Vogel loves retweeting people who make fun of him:
Poe Larity
I think someone has lost the keys to teh blog.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
They weren’t expecting their jobs to end. shitforbrains was going to be reelected or something, something. They didn’t think it would go away, nor did they think they’d be unemployed, because they didn’t think Biden was going to be elected. They’d drank the kool aid, and eaten the package it came in, and couldn’t imagine that everyone else in the country saw it the same way. The republican party has been selling the government is the problem story for over 50 years, and doing everything they could to make the government the problem. Their last go round was putting in a totally incompetent moron as president so that they really would have someone to destroy it. Of course, as he’s a failure at everything, he failed at that as well. Not that he didn’t try to fail in the desired direction, but he failed at that as well.
Immanentize
@Barbara: I think the consideration of RICO might be for people who knew about and funded the scheme. Predicate act — wirefraud. Also, “any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance . . . which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.”
They have plenty of folks now for threatening murder. Did you see that the people originally charged with a couple low level charges (like trespass) are now being charged with 9-11 counts. The guy hanging out in Pelosi’s office just got indicted for a deadly weapons charge for bringing his tazer stick with him.
DC
I feel like we should frame this as Manchin always comes through on the big stuff, not that someone else “has” him. It’s amazing to have a dem in that seat so I feel like he’s a little under appreciated.
Jeffro
@Brachiator: hellz yeah
Republicans are idiots; they should have proposed a BIGGER package. But they just. can’t. do it. LOL
Gravenstone
@Ken: “dicked the dog” is also applicable.
Ken
@Immanentize: Yeah, but he follows up with “I could see it if they were trying to charge some shadowy figure sending in the domestic terrorists,” which may be a fit for some people.
Starboard Tack
@SoupCatcher:
Crush them with competence.
Immanentize
@Ken: Oh, I am joking somewhat because Popehat is notorious for hating on people who bring up RICO.
Barbara
@Immanentize:
Yes, probably, but they also probably need a few poles in the tent to buckle, so some really credible threat of serious time.
artem1s
the GOP decided to award her by giving her those seats on those committees. She’s a first term, junior representatives. They knew she was not qualified and unfit to sit on those committees but did it anyway. They are cowards every one.
taumaturgo
More good news from what IMO is one of Biden’s positive cabinet picks.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/2/3/22262847/fcc-broadband-affordability-e-rate-comcast-rosenworcel
Dan B
@Belafon: Greene?
How about ‘Green Margarine’?
Or… We could probably get by with ‘Margarine Greene’.
WaterGirl
@artem1s: She wasn’t just unfit to serve on those committees, that was a stab in the eye to the work that those two committees do.
The Lodger
@WaterGirl: it’s not like the Republicans would pass up a chance to diss Education and Labor.
...now I try to be amused
@artem1s:
Most of them want Trump and Empty Gee gone, but none of them want their fingerprints on the knife.
As you say, cowards.
WaterGirl
@The Lodger: Nodding.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: Sorry I wasn’t clear.
By “plausible” I meant plausible in terms of getting votes.
In the first fall/winter of the Great Recession in 2008, (IIRC) the stimulus/rescue numbers started out at ~ $250B, then kept going up every few weeks until Senators started saying NO to $1T and NO to $900B and that’s how the bill ended up being ~ $870B. They came up with a number, wrote the bill, haggled a little, passed it and they were done.
(I like Krugman, but if one looks at his opinion pieces at the time, he wasn’t screaming that the rescue bill needed to be $X trillion, he was saying that it needed to be big and he hoped that what they passed was big enough. Since the economic numbers always lag, there was really know way to know how big it needed to be at the time (but of course in such instances it makes much more sense economically to go too big than too small, but the politics doesn’t work that way). Of course, the numbers kept getting worse, and not rebounding quickly enough, and by then it was too late to get a second bite at the apple.
tl;dr – Automatic Stabilizers, baby!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Origuy
The actor in the California governor’s race after the recall was Gary Coleman, and the porn star was Mary Carey.
Part of Newsom’s problem is the same problem every other governor who’s tried to do anything about the pandemic has had: idiot judges who strike down closure orders.
Just Chuck
@JWR:
I think that was Nickelback’s first choice.
RSA
@Kent and @Ken: Yes, thanks for the clarification. I was thinking of political appointees as being at the SES level, where they do have bosses but are not rank-and-file workers.
Ruckus
@DC:
How many of his constituency know how he voted on anything?
They know what he says when the news media asks him but the news media is more interested in the story when it’s got possibilities of becoming NEWS, rather than just being the day to day news. What I’m saying is I wonder how much of his blather is just blather to keep those who have some deep, dark nothing to say from looking at him. Is it possible he knows his state pretty well?
Ruckus
@…now I try to be amused:
I often wonder if almost the entire thing is kabuki. Give her the seats, knowing the dems will vote to strip her of them, so everyone gets a new talking point. Rs get “Oh woe are us!” and Ds get, see we fixed the problem. Both sides knew where this was going, they just have far different reasons for it.
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
Fair points.
Politics are weird. I wish I had a transcript of the ABC Sunday show where Krugman patiently explained the economics related to (I think) the need for a stimulus, and Cokie Roberts practically threw up her hands and declared that the Washington lawmakers didn’t care about any of that and would make their decision on the basis of political considerations.
It came down to “our leaders are stupid, but they have the power to decide what will be.”
Uncle Cosmo
@traumaturdo: You have a standing cordial invitation to go fuck yourself with a rusty chainsaw, asshole.
Dan B
@Immanentize: Is the heir to Publix starting to sweat about RICO discussions? Who else? The Republican Governor’s Association publicized the “rally” (insurrection). Their contribution has a price tag but would they have to support some forms of violent opposition to the election to get caught by RICO?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JWR: The actor was Gary Colman, the porn star was Mary Carry.
Uncle Cosmo
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I eagerly await the day the answer to “Where’s Greenwaldo?” is Unconscious and exsanguinating in a Rio de Janeiro backalley while the little kids are rifling through his pockets for anything that might possibly be worth stealing. Utter waste of CHON and trace elements; pond scum would make more constructive use of them.
(NB we’re back to “visual window borked from the gitgo” in Farfawks 85.0.)
Dan B
@taumaturgo: This step to get higher speed internet to people and institutions that are struggling in the internet age is excellent. We dropped Comcast because we were promised $65 per month. Our bills ranged from $100 – $200 each month with no explanation. On a fixed income this was infuriating.
AnotherBruce
@West of the Rockies: Do you have any baby recipes?